CEO Blasted After Asking Employees to Donate PTO for Hospitalized Co-Worker

A viral photo uploaded to Reddit's r/antiwork sub sparked a debate on corporate ethics after a CEO asked co-workers to donate their PTO time to an employee who worked at the business for 17 years was hospitalized and had to undergo rehab before returning to work.

The note says that the individual had depleted their paid time off days, meaning that they wouldn't receive their full salaried pay during their time recuperating.

The note reads: "We have a long-term employee of 17 years from our Dietary Department who has been in the hospital and rehab for several months."

The memo continued, "She has exhausted all her PTO days and her benefits are running out. As you can imagine this has been quite a drain on her family's income. If there is anyone who would like to donate one or more days of their PTO please let [redacted] VP of Financial Services, know in writing of your intent. Thank you for your consideration."

The signature at the end of the note indicates that it was penned by the company's "President & CEO."

The note received heavy criticism from several Redditors in the comments section who highlighted the thought process behind posting such a letter as a prominent example of how little corporate America values its employees.

One of the top replies to the post was one from a user named @bippityboppityzoop, who wrote: ""Dear Dunces,

Allow me to guilt trip you into doing something that would be cheaper for me in the end."

Another user pointed out that as President & CEO, they don't have to dip into other people's PTO time in order to keep the hospitalized employee on payroll: "If that guy really is the president/ CEO, he can give as many paid or unpaid time off as he wants. There is no US law about PTO unless you are in California or part of a union, and those are to protect the employees, employers can give anything they want to anyone. What a tasteless letter"

Also, presumably as the President & CEO of the company, they are probably earning more than their employees and could donate a portion of their salary for the year in order to make sure that their employee is taken care of, especially considering how many years of their life they dedicated to the company.

There are a growing number of people on social media expressing their displeasure with the way business is being conducted in America. It's no secret that there are a large number of corporate lobbies that greatly influence national policy in our country, meaning that there are a number of our elected officials who swore to protect the interests of the people who are, in fact, corporate shills.

While a number of massive corporations have been bailed out by the American people's coffers while we argue and lobby for rights like Universal Healthcare and minimum wage increases to keep up with the rate of inflation, big businesses like Goldman Sachs can suck at their jobs so badly that they'll go bankrupt, but can later rely on our money to get out of trouble.

At least Goldman was able to pay what it borrowed back, but then there are Airlines who tanked their own businesses from stock buyback programs after the COVID-19 pandemic happened. They relied on our tax dollars to stay afloat, only to turn around and lay-off tons of employees, and time will tell if they'll ever get that money back into the federal reserve.

What do you think? Is it "normal" for a boss to ask their employees to donate their own paid time off in order to help out a co-worker? Or do you believe that the onus falls on the shoulders of the business and that they shouldn't be asking other employees to essentially foot the bill of their rehabilitation?